More and more companies from a variety of industries, wholesale chains, investors, designers, and service providers around the world are looking into electric mobility and investing in their future there. ExtraEnergy has done this for 15 years.
 

 
For good reasons: Energy prices are rising, and people are trying to save energy and costs. Climate change is also forcing us to rethink many of our habits. In Asian mega-cities, a rapidly increasing number of cars cause endless traffic jams, air pollution, and discomfort–– all the while cars are thought to bring just the opposite! So, why not use vehicles that are more cost and energy efficient, healthier––and in many places––faster? With all the rational reasons to buy an electric bike or scooter, attractive design and power are more than ever on demand.

From being a Pioneer to setting Trends
ExtraEnergy has tested electric bikes since 1992 to help manufacturers discover problems before the bikes go to mass production; ExtraEnergy also helps dealers and consumers make purchase decisions, for example by providing a test seal that awards high quality products. When comparing the test results over the last 15 years, it is clear that product quality has significantly improved. The choice of products is much larger now than a few years ago. The basic trends are: more comfort, more speed, more design––and good bikes for less money (although raw material prices are rising).

In 1992 ExtraEnergy organized the first electric bike exhibition at IFMA Cologne, Germany, and had a hard time to convince the few existing manufacturers at that time to participate. Today ExtraEnergy is setting trends for development in the LEV market together with a community of other companies that take part in the exhibitions at Cologne and Friedrichshafen, Germany.
For 12 years now, the popular ExtraEnergy TEST IT Track has been part of the surrounding program at Eurobike und IFMA Cologne international bicycle shows. Here visitors and exhibitors can take rides on the most recent pedelecs (pedal electric cycles), and e-bikes. Unique about the ExtraEnergy track is a slope, which quickly demonstrates the advantages of an electric motor in uphill conditions.

ExtraEnergy meets the Needs of the Industry
ExtraEnergy sets market trends as a worldwide recognized authority on independent product testing and promotion. The non-profit organization also supports market growth of light electric vehicles (LEVs) with many other projects.

The Exhibition and Training Center at the ExtraEnergy headquarter in Tanna, Germany, hosts the world’s largest collection of around 400 pedelecs, e-bikes, scooters, and solar vehicles ranging from the earliest serial products to the latest prototypes.

ExtraEnergy.org is go-to-place for information about LEVs on the Internet. More than 44,000 visitors per month read the online magazine.

LEV Conference took place in Hsinchu, Taiwan, this year and was, for the first time, organized by ExtraEnergy. President Hannes Neupert thus intends to encourage the exchange of information in the LEV industry.

Two other big projects will have a lot of influence on product development:

BATSO is a recently introduced test seal to show the safety level of a battery. It is also a trade marked abbreviation of BAttery-Safety-Organization, which creates the BATSO testing standards. BATSO is a cooperation project between ExtraEnergy, Taiwan Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), the renowned testing organizations TUV Rheinland Taiwan, and UL Taiwan, as well as the LEV industry. The goal is to increase safety in new battery technologies.

The second project is EnergyBus: a new standard to enable communication between electrical LEV components of different manufacturers and encourage advanced product development. The communication protocol is currently under development using the CANopen standard. The backing organization is EnergyBus e.V. in close cooperation with Can in Automation e.V.


August 28, 2007